Two more long days of travel have put me all the way over on the border between New Mexico and Texas. Went through the town of Las Cruces, NM just a short time ago, and the town of El Paso, TX is next up on the map, at least as far as larger cities go.
   Yesterday was a pretty long day for me. I kept going south on hwy 95 out of Parker AZ until I made it all the way down to the intersection of it with I-8. Along the way there was plenty of open vistas with lots of real craggy type mountains scattered about. Evidently the remanents of old volcanoes that had erupted out of cracks in an even older seabed. They weren't all that tall, but very photogenic.... so I even stopped and took a few pictures. One thing that really surprised me was all of the trailers and RV's that had simply pulled off the highway a few hundred yards and set up camp amongst the cactus and mesquite. Some had solar panels set up on their roofs or next to their units and some had plastic water carriers and extra large propane tanks also, so they were all set to spend weeks or even months in the area.
   I got into Yuma AZ around two in the afternoon after passing many, many miles of fields growing veggies of all kinds. A short list would include lettuce of assorted kinds, spinach, broccoli, cabbage and green onions as well as fields growing hay and nut and citrus orchards. It is always amazing to me to see so much being grown in what was once a desert if you just add a little water.
   Turning east I headed for Tuscan thinking that somewhere along the line I would run into a rest area of some kind to spend the night in. But there wasn't a single place along the way other than the Border Patrol station we all had to drive through just to the east of town. It wasn't until a good 100 miles east of Tuscan before I finally found an open rest area to stop at. Since it was after 9:00 when I pulled in, all of the spaces had already filled with sleepy truckers. I did manage to find one spot on the entrance road in however that didn't have a truck parked in it. I had a small bite to eat, just some cheese and crackers and some home canned tuna that my friends in Oregon had given me. It was the most amazing stuff... certainly not anything like canned tuna. I had a hard time putting it down, but even I fill up after awhile. It was a little noisy where I was parked as trucks continued to pass through, but I slept well even though it was an hour later this morning because of the time change I passed through.
    It has been a pretty easy day to travel today as the roads are nearly empty except for the truckers who didn't make it home in time for Thanksgiving. I did have a 20-25 mph headwind for most of the morning, which really sucked as far as gas mileage goes. Instead of a steady 60-65 mph rate of travel the truck now thought I was trying to do 90 and adjusted the rate of gas consumption accordingly. Let me just say that I am happy that the cost of gas has come down so much in the past couple of months.
   So I hope to go another 60 miles before pulling in for the night. I guess it would be nicer to be having dinner with family or friends on this day, but really it isn't that big of a deal for me. I just keep remembering that the past 4-5 Thanksgivings were spent sitting on a beach in Florida sipping margarita's and reading a book. Guess I will just have to postpone it until another day.




brk*

    Was up and away from the Campground there in Sacramento pretty early. Unfortunately for me the layout of the campground was such that to dump my trailer tanks would of required me to exit the campground, drive down the road a mile or so, turn around and then drive back in to the campground and access the upper level of the park, which is where the dump station was. Since there was only a couple of days worth of 'stuff' in the tanks, I just blew it off and headed on down the highway.
   It was a wonderful drive south through the valley with its miles and miles of nut and citrus orchards and nearly endless plats of vegetable fields. By late afternoon I was turning off I-5 and taking a secondary highway over to Bakersfield. It was a little tricky working my way through that town in the dark, right at rush hour, but it wasn't long before the road went back to 4 lanes and the traffic lightened up. Heading more east than south now it wasn't long before the truck was headed up the west side of Tehachapi Pass, essentially the pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Taking a short break at the top to gas up the truck and get some dinner, it was cold again. Obviously a function of the elevation as well as the clear desert sky.
   Descending on the east side puts you out onto the 'floor' of the Mojave Desert where there isn't much of anything to see at night. In the distance you catch sight of Edwards Air Force Base, as well as miles and miles and miles of blinky red landing lights stretching off into nowhere.
   Spent that night in a rest area just west of Barstow, it was noisy but otherwise a good place to spend the night and get some sleep. It meant being up early yesterday morning however, so my start was pretty quick out of there. On the move again it wasn't long before I hit I-40 east. That highway actually takes you out through the 'real' Mojave Desert, so mostly a lot of empty space stretching off to the horizon. It is pretty in it's own way however, lots of cactus and Joshua trees growing everywhere, as well as craggy mountains sticking up all over the place. It was a pleasant drive with me and the road and some good tunes coming from the I-pod.
     Got into Needles late in the afternoon and had some lunch before going across the Colorado River and into the state of Arizona. I had turned into a McDonalds there and realized it was the same one my mom and I had stopped at many years ago on the road trip we went on together out to San Diego and back. It was a pleasant memory and I had shake in her honor.
  Turning south again just over the border with Arizona, I have been following the Colorado River south since then. Went through the town of Lake Havasu as the afternoon sun was dropping. I had no idea that a town that large was huddled along the shore of the lake and river. It took quite a while to get through town and along the way I got a chance to view the real London Bridge where they had moved it too.
  Right as the last rays of daylight were going down to the west, I ran across a nice little State Park right on the shores of Lake Havasu. Since it was getting dark anyway, and because a hot shower sounded really good to me I pulled in, got everything hooked up and grabbed a bite to eat for dinner before heading off to the showers. Used the ones in the campground instead of the one in the trailer because the campground ones were bigger, had tons of hot water... and did I mention they were bigger. It was wonderful to be clean again and finally able to relax from a long day of driving. Since there wasn't any phone or WiFi signal of any kind down in the canyon I just pulled out the Kindle and read for a couple of hours.
   Up early again this morning. It was pretty easy packing up as there wasn't much gear pulled out last night and I didn't even unhook the trailer. I did take enough time to go take another deliciously hot shower and to dump the trailer tanks before getting back on the road. I think I'm in the town of Parker right now, but to be honest there haven't been any signs so that is just a guess on my part. Pulled in to McDonalds to get on line and grab some food. Nearly done here however and it will soon be time to get back on the road. I'll be headed south again, the idea is to make it all the way down to I-8 and then turn east once again. Not sure how far I'll get today, but half the fun, as always, is in the journey.




brk*

   It has been a couple of pretty busy days lately so there hasn't been much time to sit down and write very much. It really started on Friday night when I went over to my cousins place and had a very pleasant dinner with her and her husband. Willie, Gray and I ate way to much of Willie's home made chili, and consumed more wine than we should. But I had a wonderful time catching up on family information and gossip and it was so much fun that we decided to do it all again last night... which we did.
   There was more to yesterday than just dinner however. I started out over at the California Railroad Museum just before noon. It is located just down hill from the state capital building, in an area known as 'Old' Sacramento. I don't actually know if that area was the site of the original town, but my guess is that it was probably part of it, just based on the location there on the banks of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. Now though, the buildings are all being used as small specialty stores as well as various styles of restaurants. Kind of a neat little area if you like shopping, but I didn't spend much time there.
  But getting back to the RR Museum; I ended up spending nearly 4 hours wandering around the exhibits, climbing on loco's and cars, reading all the placards. I could of spent more time there, except that my feet were wearing out and my stomach was starting to growl in hunger. I am still of the opinion that not only is this the best RR Museum that I have ever spent time in, but it is also one of the best Museums over all that I have ever visited. Anyone who gets a chance should go and visit.
   I took lots of pictures and hope to have some of them ready to post within a day or two. In this case there are lots of pictures of these stunning full sized locomotives and cars, all of them beautifully redone to show them off as they would of been while still working.... but much, much cleaner. I will wait and let the photos tell the story later on though.
    Once done with the museum it was off to find some much needed lunch. What I found was a Chipoltle restaurant over in a strip mall. It may not be real Mexican food, but it was close enough for me at that moment. I sat and read my book and took my time eating a nice chicken bowl.
    Finishing up there I walked over to the Home Depot next door and picked up a new hose fitting to replace the male end on the hose I use for the trailer. It has been leaking for the last couple of months no matter what fix I tried to do. In other words... duct tape wasn't going to fix it good enough. I'll get the new fitting installed at some point in the future when I actually have a little bit of time to actually do the work.
    Dinner last night was roasted chicken and root veggies and salad. Willie and Grays daughter, son in law and grand daughter also made it over for the meal, so it was another fun filled family affair. The food was excellent and there was more wine to consume with it of course. It's fun to spend time with them and get a chance to talk.
    I was up and on the road to San Fransisco by 11:00 this morning. I was going into the city to have a late lunch with my niece/god daughter, Erin, and possibly a couple of her friends. I drove in to the Pleasant Hill BART station and grabbed a train into the city from there. I use to take the train from that station nearly every day when I lived out here between 1988 and 92. The trains seem to be pretty much the same, but I certainly didn't recognize much of the area around the station. Where there once was a large open parking lot is now a series of 4-6 story condo's, and the rest of the parking lot is now a 6 story parking garage with thousands of spaces. I had no problem finding a place to park at least, and for good measure, parking is free on the weekends.
    The train into town only took 30-40 minutes, and it was fun to look out the window as it passed familier and not so familier places along the way. Erin had told me to meet her at the Union Station when I got there, so I figured she meant the one that was named Civic Center/U.N. Plaza since there was nothing that had a name with Union in it. Turns out that what she meant was to meet her at the station closest to Union Park, a nice inner city park about 8 blocks off the train route. So we didn't meet up perfectly, but the stations are only about 4 blocks apart, so it was easy enough for them to walk down and meet me. I got there a little early anyway so I spent the extra time wandering around the farmers market that sets up there in the U.N. Plaza park every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon. So much beautiful produce and fruit, fresh eggs and fish, flowers, honey, dates and nuts of all kinds. What surprised me was that a lot of it was  priced pretty low I thought. If there had been some way to keep it, and then use it, I would of been buying a whole bunch of stuff today.... starting off with a couple veggies and fruit that I hadn't even seen before.
   I finally got a text from Erin and we worked out so that they would walk up to where I was instead of trying to meet somewhere in the middle. When I say they, that means that not only Erin came, but also her collage roommate Lily and another good friend of theirs Alyssa. Once we connected up we all wandered back down towards the Powell Street station and turned into the city and walked up the hill to O'Farrel street. They all knew of a little hole-in-the-wall Thai place near the corner there, and we all went in to have some dinner. I was starved by that time having had nothing since breakfast so it sounded like a great idea to me.
    We had a fun time sitting there for better than an hour chowing down and talking. The food was good but mostly I just sat there and let the conversation from 3 young, active and excited women just wash over me. They were polite enough to actually let me join into their conversation any time I felt like it, but it was just a real kick to sit back and listen to their excited chatter. It makes me think there is still hope for this planet after all.
    It was a nice drive back to the trailer afterwards. Tomorrow I will be pulling up stakes once again and heading on down the highway. Had thought about stopping somewhere down south and driving in to see some more family along the way, but I am starting to feel a bit pressed for time now, and I really just want to be on the road and heading east. There will be a few stops along the way of course, but I am hoping to be into Florida again by late next week, or early in the week after. Right now though it's time to go drink some tea and read a few chapters in my book.


brk*

   Managed to make it into the Sacramento area yesterday afternoon having spent the proceeding night in another rest area north of the city on I-5. I sat in a McDonalds for most of yesterdays morning while the rain continued to come down and I waited for an RV campground to get back to me and let me know if they had a space for the trailer. They finally called me back up around 1:00 p.m. and let me know they had plenty of room... I just needed to get there and get set up.
    It was rush hour when I finally got back into the city. Six lanes of traffic with everyone trying to get home after a long day of work. It is always interesting towing the trailer through  such a maelstrom of craziness.  I still only missed one turn off during my run in. I just couldn't make it across 3 lanes of traffic in time to make the turnoff, but it only meant going down to the next exit and turning around. It was still a hassle though.
   I did finally make it into the campground and found a spot to set up in. I am on a bank about 30 feet above the Sacramento River, so it is quite scenic. Hard to believe it is less than 5 miles to the downtown area. It isn't the most pristine camp I have ever been in, but it should work just fine for a couple of days.
    I had to block the trailer up on some 2x's to level it up, as well as use some chocks to keep it from running down hill when I unhitched. Once done with that I got the hot water heater and electric heaters turned on. Felt pretty good to get a hot shower and clean up a little bit. It was important as one of my close cousins and her husband had asked me over to dinner with them last night.
   Spent several pleasant hours over with them drinking some good wine, eating some good food and having some great conversation. A very enjoyable evening all in all.
   Off to see the California Railroad Museum next. I haven't been here for more than 20 years so I am very excited about going again. As I recall, not only was this a really nice railroad museum, but in general it was one of the best museums of any kind I have ever visited. It is very exciting so I need to get going.
 

Throw Back Thursday

I am also on Face Book a lot and recently a lot of people have been loading up old photo's of themselves on what has become known as 'Throw Back Thursday' of TBT for short. I don't always post something, but I thought it might be nice to actually post a picture of myself, even if it is more than 40 years old.... This one is from 1974-1976 I believe. This is based on the fact that there is no beard in this picture, something I started growing when I joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1977. I think this one is appropriate for this week when so many of my friends up in the north and eastern states are dealing with record snowfall. Please stay safe and warm everyone.

brk*

   It's raining again, or should I just say... still! I suppose it could be worse, it could be soft and white and cold and needing to be shoveled, but lucky for me, it is just coming down in liquid form... and it is even quite warm out at the moment.
    I left Eugene early yesterday morning with the temperature in the low 20's, and drove south up and over the mountains on the border, and on into northern California. By dark I had passed by Mt Shasta and was starting into the northern reaches of  California's Great, or Grand Valley. I'm never sure which one it is. What I do know is that nearly 90% of the produce in grocery stores in the U.S. is grown somewhere along this vast open plain. Today I went by miles and miles of olive and hazel nut groves among other growing things.
   I spent last night in a rest area somewhere around the town of Red Bluff. Other than a noisy freeway right next to the parking area, it wasn't too bad of an evening. I read until the battery in the Kindle died and then hit the rack. Not nearly as cold as it has been the last few nights, but I woke up to raindrops on the roof around 6:00 a.m. this morning.
   Given the drought California has been going through for the last few years, this is probably pretty good news for them, so I won't complain too much about it. Still.....
    I'm currently holed up in a McDonalds somewhere along the road to Sacramento. Nearly done here though so I'll soon be back on the road south. Hope to find a nice spot close in to the city this afternoon and then stay a few days. There are lots of things I want to see in the area as well as a few friends and relatives to visit with if it all works out. I've really noticed how the time is going by though. What once seemed like nearly unlimited days of travel have now shrunk down to only 3+ weeks left before I need to be in Florida. I may have to rethink a few things that were once planned, but that can happen later. Right now it's time to go find a place to hunker down and stay dry.


brk*

   Nearly three whole days of sunshine so far... so of course now I'm complaining about it being cold. What a whiner!
    I took off from Coos Bay yesterday morning and headed back north and then east to the town of Eugene. It was a spectacular drive as the highway wound out around all the bends of the Umpqua River as I headed up into the higher elevations of the coast range. I had never been up this highway before so it was a double treat for me as it was absolutely beautiful. The river was a surprise just in how large and wide it was, and how long and far that size carried east. I finally left it at a split in the highway and it turned slightly south of where I was headed. Even then the river was still more than big enough to boat on although I had been seeing more and more large sets of rapids that would of been a bit of a challenge in an open canoe.
    It was cold when I started up in the morning and I fully expected to see snow on the ground as the road went higher. But there wasn't any left on the ground, if it had ever been there, but there was this amazing amount of frost on the grass and tree tips. Very silvery.
    I pulled into my campground around 3:00 in the afternoon and found plenty of spaces to choose from. The campground is in 'Armitage County Park just north of Eugene. It is a beautiful little park right on the border with town, and it sits on one bank of the McKenzie River. I got the trailer set up with no problem, and then took a short walk around the park just to work the kinks out before heading inside for the evening. Once the sun went down it got really cold in a hurry. By the time I finally went too bed the outside temperature was down to 28 degrees. Later in the night, when I got up to turn the heaters onto a higher setting, I ended up going outside and turning the water off and disconnecting the hose, as it had already frozen pretty solid.
    I remained nice and warm and cozy in my little man cave however, but it was a real trial getting up this morning when the outside temperature was down at 24 degrees and the inside one was only 50. Brrr indeed!
    Needless to say, I haven't been doing a whole lot today. I've hung out inside and watched the news and read the comics and did a couple crosswords. I did manage to find a couple of RV parks down near Sacramento so I should be good to go when I arrive there.
    I also blew out all the water lines and turned the water heater on so it wouldn't freeze. Unfortunately there is no running water in the trailer at this time so I ended up going over to the campground shower house for one of those. That was not a bad deal either, as they are nearly brand new and, other than the cold concrete floor, where very nice single unit bathroom/showers. The park did put a timer on the shower to control how long you could be in, but at 9 minutes there was plenty of time to clean up well. Plus the water was steamy hot and the shower was big enough to actually turn around in.
    There is a contra dance scheduled for later on this evening. The Great Bear Trio will be playing while George Marshall will be doing the calling. I am sure there will be a couple of people here that I will at least recognize if not know outright. I have now danced enough times in Oregon that I have managed to dance with a lot of the regulars. Plus there are always those other dance gypsies that travel to other dance weekends. Either way I am sure it is going to be fun.
    The plan for tomorrow is to pack up and head south as soon as possible in the morning. I doubt I'll make it all the way into Sacramento tomorrow, but I will at least make it as far as Redding I would think. With any luck I'll be holed up in a rest area far south of here and much, much warmer.


brk*

( Sorry... thought I had posted this, but evidently not. So here is the one from Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014)  


  Yea! It turned off sunny this morning..... very cold, but at least the sun is out. I hung out at the trailer for a couple hours drinking hot tea, but finally made it outside around 10:00. I ended up just walking down to the beach there at the campground. It isn't a very big, or long beach but when the ocean is as calm as it was this morning it does have this one section over on the north side that has a whole bunch of tide pools to look at. I had a great time looking at the starfish and poking sea anemonies. Of course there was that one time my foot slipped off the rock and right into the water up to nearly my knee. Brrrr!
    So that is what has been going on so far today. I'm now in the library once again where I have already checked on a campsite for tomorrow in Eugene.  Will stay there for a couple of nights before heading south and, what I hope, are some warmer temperatures.
   Right now though I want to finish up here and then head out for a movie. There is one called 'John Wick' playing at 4:10 and I need to get the heck out of here. But first, a couple of pictures from more than a month ago up in Washington state near the town of Morton.

Old Barns near Morton Washington - Oct 9, 2014

Your basic old red barn.

 

 

 

I like the setting for this barn.

 

brk*